A Day (Or Night) In the Life of a Volunteer Paramedic (Part 1): Typical Shift At The Rescue Squad

I was recently asked by a member of the public what a typical day is like for me. That is such a hard question to answer because each shift is so different. Being a bit of a smart aleck, I asked them "what day?" I work a rotating 24hrs on/72hrs off schedule with the private ambulance transport company. My volunteer paramedic schedule of 12hr shifts is set up around my work schedule. I prefer running as the Region A medic on Sunday and Monday nights. Sometimes I run Sunday days because I can take the chase car to church and respond from there. I also volunteer with the Fire Company which is separate from the Rescue Squad. Fire duty crew is a 12hr shift every 6th night. I work holidays, am out in all sorts of weather and I don't know what a "weekend" is anymore. And I haven't even started on the regular continuing education classes I have to take to keep my certifications current.

But let's give this a try. Let's assume that I'm on duty at the volunteer rescue squad as the regional medic. The shift begins at 6pm, but since everything in fire-rescue goes off 24hr clock time, it's actually 1800. I usually leave home at least an hour before the start of my shift to allow for travel time with rush hour. If it's one of the days when my roommate is working night shift and won't be home to take care of the pets I leave earlier so I can drop my dog Fiona off for a sleepover at a friend's house.

Well, she's already asleep in the car. Apparently, Fiona was more than ready for a sleepover while I'm on duty.

Once I get to the station, I change into my uniform if I'm not already wearing it and call the county dispatch center to place my unit in service. Then I do a quick duty check to make sure I have everything on the unit and change the battery in the portable radio.

One of the ALS Chase vehicles we used to run from the rescue squad station. Oh, and a helicopter.

Then it's time for dinner. You never know when you'll get a call, so food is always a high priority. Every time you sit down to eat, go to the restroom, start your workout, etc., you feel like you're tempting fate to give you a call. Most shifts, I end up coordinating dinner with the ambulance crew on duty. After dinner, I like to do training of some sort.

Extrication Training

Training can be pretty much anything. If you don't train your skills and knowledge gets rusty. You don't want to be trying to relearn that splinting procedure on a call. Training is important! Two of my favorite evening shift training options are doing area familiarization/driver training and practicing ALS/BLS skills. If you know the shortcuts, major streets and intersections--and even better the addresses, your response times are faster because you already know where you're going. Long summer evenings are perfect for this kind of area familiarization. Practicing skills such as intubations on the dummy, doing a drug bag check (and reviewing the indications, doses and contraindications for all the drugs in the bag), and teaching basic skills to new members are other good options. The more you know, the more you practice, the better you will be under stress in a critical incident. I also try to review at least one of the local protocols per shift. Knowing the protocols is very important, and there are always protocols you don't use very often.

Bunk room at the station. The night this photo was taken, I ran a lot of calls and consequently didn't spend much time in here.

After training, sometimes there is time to use the station gym, work on projects, and watch TV before bedtime. I usually pick a bunk room as soon as I'm done with my duty check and before dinner. And at any point in time, this routine can and will be interrupted by calls. In the area I cover, the average time it takes to run a call once you allow for response time to the scene, an on scene time of about 15-20 minutes, transport time and the return trip to the station (often via the scene to retrieve the chase vehicle) is about 2-2.5 hours. Critical patients require more documentation, so the report-writing time at the ED is longer.

People often ask how busy we are. The truthful answer is that it depends upon the day. Calls seem to come in waves. At one point in time, there will be 4 calls going on at once and I'll be on one and there will be units from 3 other stations on calls in my area. Other days I'll run nothing the entire shift. Some shifts I will run 6 calls and never really see the station.

Another question or rather statement I hear a lot, is "so you're an ambulance driver?" Well, technically, yes, I am. But I'm a whole lot more than an ambulance driver. I'm actually a paramedic. I've successfully completed about 2,000 hours of classroom and practical training, followed by about 8 months of field training before I was allowed to run calls on my own. So, "Yes, Ma'am. But I'm a little more than just an ambulance driver..."